Are shamans really useful in groups and raids?

[mgellan]

IMHO it's one per raid cuz shamans all seem to play alts because "we have so many Shamans so I can play my ______" LOL.

One shaman per raid is awful, constant canni-torpor trying to get everyone buffed, with half the raid is unbuffed because they won't send you a tell with what they need until AFTER you demem all your buffs to get spells up for actually helping fight mobs.

Then generally the raid will zone in / port up when you're LOH / LOM and canni-torporing wildly, so ppl will be wondering why you die first while you try slow all the crap that they pull and it all starts beating on you before you can get Torpor off.

If you make it through the break in, Shamans have a lot to do with patch heals and slow on inc mobs that don't go down fast, as well as keeping buffs on people. If there's another shaman in the raid, I make it my special job to keep targetting all the chanters in turn so a heal can keep them alive when I see them getting whacked from a mez or pet break.

Shamans really shine in emergency situations too, like when the monk pulls a bazillion mobs in Fear and all of a sudden the chanters are dead and the clerics are getting hammered! In jumps the shaman rooting and AOE slowing (ghetto mezzing) everything, while they patch heal everyone to keep the raid alive. When the Shaman(s) go down, you know you're f*cked, hope a cleric got out alive!

My $0.02 anyways.

Regards,
Mg

[Man0warr]

I think for the most part the idea of one shaman per raid is a fantasy. It's one of the most popular classes in the game.

No one wants to play Shamans for raiding, just for soloing/duoing cash camps.

Multiple sacrificial shamans are required for Velious raiding though so people will be forced to play them and not their alts.

[DrKvothe]

Lol I remember 32 and 33 being the worst, with 34+ being fine because of the new dog. At 29, you don't get a new dot, so your root/rot damage is the same at 32 as it was at 24. Ugh.

I did 32 and 33 in HHK goblin groups, and honestly the exp wasn't that bad and the loot was great. Iruinedyourday is right about buffing without an enchanter being really, really awful though; keeping regen and haste up on the melees used basically all of my mana while I grouped.

According to my notes, 34 and 35 I did HHK guards solo. At some point in 35 I moved to the ancient croc camp and stayed there until 37, raking in phat cash. My socks still smell like ass from that.

[iruinedyourday]

when i have melee's that ask me for haste i want to just say, FUCK NO SHUTUP NO HASTE WHO CARES I DONT WE DONT NEED IT JESUS SHUTUP

[hammertime7795]

Useful not really. Amazing and probably required for anything good yes.

[Widan]

If I was a shaman I wouldn't even log on for raids in Kunark. The potential upgrades are not worth the pain of buffing everyone until Velious.